Overview
- On July 14, 2026 the victim’s sister, Hiroko Ohashi, spoke to the House of Councillors Legal Affairs Committee and said she once blamed Akashi Maekawa but now calls both herself and Maekawa victims of investigative failures.
- Prosecutors in Nagoya publicly noted on July 10 that a key witness statement that helped convict Maekawa contained errors, a development that was cited during the July 14 Diet session.
- Maekawa, who was convicted after a 1987 appeal and later served a sentence, was found not guilty in a retrial confirmed in August 2025 after a second retrial petition and is the focus of calls for earlier relief for those wrongly convicted.
- Ohashi accused police of fabricating a case against Maekawa and prosecutors of hiding evidence that could have pointed to the true perpetrator, and she urged full evidence disclosure and renewed efforts to find and punish the real offender.
- Lawmakers are now debating amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code to strengthen retrial rules, require clearer evidence disclosure, and create faster remedies for wrongful convictions while no new criminal charges against investigators have been reported.